


Haven Falls

by Adam_Irons



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Death, Multi, Post-Volume 5 (RWBY), Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-05-25 16:48:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adam_Irons/pseuds/Adam_Irons
Summary: An alternate ending to RWBY Volume 5. After Ilia failed to show up to disarm the explosives at Haven, Adam ends up detroying the academy. Confused and divided, the survivors of the attack scatter and try to survive the following Grimm attack.





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just an idea I had about what could happen if Haven was destroyed. I hope you all enjoy this. I'd like too continue this, so let me know what you think. Thanks for checking this out.

It took a while for Blake to come to. Her senses were hazy, she couldn’t see or hear. Even when she managed to open her amber eyes, everything was white, until slowly, color began to return to the world. The colors eventually turned into shaped, until finally she could see people running back and forth in a frenzy of confusion and disorientation. Some of them seemed to be shouting, but she couldn’t heat a thing.

All of a sudden, a pair of hands grabbed her. She turned over, unable to get up from the ground, but she needn’t fight, as she gazed into Sun’s blue eyes. Blake frowned. He was mouthing something, but she couldn’t tell what. Finally, her hearing returned to her, as she heard what he was shouting.

“Blake! We need to leave!” Sun shouted.

“W-Wh…what happened!?” Blake asked, not concussed, but very disoriented.

“That son of a bitch… he actually did it…” Sun growled, as he helped Blake to her feet. The cat girl frowned, in confusion, before Sun explained. “Adam. He detonated the bombs. Haven, it’s…” Sun trailed off, as he and Blake looked up at the tower that was built into the main building of Haven academy. 

“But…” Blake couldn’t find the right words to say whatever she was trying to say.

All she and Sun could do was watch in horror as Haven’s CCT came crashing down. Luckily, they were at a safe enough distance away, but that didn’t help the dozens of Faunus, both white fang and from Menagerie, who were crushed by the giant structure. Others burned as the whole academy was engulfed in flames, while some continued to fight their way out, and others helplessly tried to tend to their fallen friends and family. Finally, there were those that lay motionless, bodies twisted and broken, dead.

“Blake, we need to leave if we want to live!” Sun told her, but the cat Faunus squirmed out of his grip.

“No… we have to help!” She argued, ignoring the pain she was in as she rushed through the flames. She had to find her parents, as well as any survivors, and get out of there fast. Of course, Sun followed her, as the two searched for survivors.

 

‘What is that maniac doing…!?’ Cinder though to herself, as the cavern around her began to collapse. She easily had enough time to escape, but not without the relic.

Unfortunately for the fall maiden, Raven was one step ahead of her. The spring maiden used her powers to break the only path to the relic in two, leaving a huge chasm between herself and Salem’s loyal follower. Cinder could have used her powers to jump the gap, had she been willing to risk being crushed by the hundreds of falling rocks, as Haven’s foundations gave way.

“Too bad your friend’s a lunatic!” Raven chuckled, as Cinder watched the bandit emerge from the vault holding what looked like a lantern that she figured must have been the relic of knowledge. “Remember; Raven Branwen is the name you need to give your master when she asks you why you failed. I sure would hate to be in your place; going back to Salem empty handed…”

Cinder glared furiously at Raven, who gave a smug grin. The fall maiden shot a stream of flames at the bandit, but she was too fast, and was already on her way out of the vault, using her powers to soar up to Haven, where she could no doubt make her escape. Cinder didn’t have a choice but to follow her up, although she had much more difficultly dodging the falling rocks. 

At this rate, Haven’s foundations would give way beneath the feet of everybody in the great hall, crushing Cinder in the process.  
The maiden gritted her teeth, as she finally made her way to the top of the elevator shaft, on her way to kill that spring maiden and take the relic for herself.

 

Ruby looked around the room. Everybody seemed to be alive, although most of them were dazed and confused. She felt the heat from the flames that roared around them, the entire building on fire, although there seemed to be one wall that had been all but destroyed that they could hopefully escape through. 

Looking around, the silver-eyed girl noticed that the roof had been practically torn off of the building when the tower fell. The ground had begun to crack in places, and the walls were all burning and collapsing. It didn’t take a genius to tell Ruby to get out of there now, only her gut.

However, that same gut told her not to abandon her friends, as she struggled to her feet and made her way over to her sister.

“Yang… Yang wake up!” Ruby cried. The redhead breathed a sigh of relief when Yang groaned and began to stand.

“Ruby… get out. I’ll help the others.” Yang told her sister, but the younger girl shook her head.

“No, Yang, I’m staying and helping!” Ruby insisted, as she began to help Jaune to his feet.

“Thanks, Ruby…” The blond man thanked her, holding his bleeding head.

“Ruby, you ca-” Yang began, but stopped when she looked down at her arm, or rather, where her robotic arm had once been. Instead, there was now a crushed metal lump that hardly resembled an arm. Three of the fingers were missing, and had it been organic, all of the bones would have surely been broken. What’s more, it dangled uselessly from Yang’s shoulder by a few cables, while most of them had snapped, meaning that it was unusable.

The lilac-eyed girl could only look in horror as she inspected her destroyed prosthetic limb. No matter how skilled at tinkering with machines she was, it was clearly unsalvageable, the only silver lining being that she wasn’t in too much pain, with the arm being metal.

“Jaune, get Yang to safety!” Ruby ordered. The blue-eyed man nodded, and surprisingly Yang didn’t resist much, knowing that she would be a burden if she got in the way, and allowed Jaune to help her outside.

“Ruby!” Nora cried. Ruby spun to see Nora with Ren’s arms over her shoulder. He seemed to be limping, and Ruby could see why when she took a look at his ankle that was twisted almost at a right angle. With them was Weiss, the heiress having barely recovered from her injury, but able to at least walk.

“You three, follow Jaune and Yang and stay safe!” Ruby ordered them. 

“We’re not leaving- hey!” Ren began, before Nora began to carry him to safety anyway, followed by Weiss who made sure to protect them. The heiress looked back, receiving a nod from Ruby, returning the gesture, before she caught up with the defenseless pair.

Ruby looked around, seeing Oscar struggling to stand, as Lionheart lay unconscious right beside him. The raised area that Lionheart that greeted them from seemed unstable, before it eventually started to crumble, threatening to crush both Oscar and the lion. Ruby used her semblance to move as fast as she could, as the platform fell mere seconds after she managed to get Oscar out of the way.

“Ruby, thank you…” The boy said, in his own voice rather than Ozpin’s. Ruby nodded, but their success was short lived when the boy glanced just behind Ruby to see the lion Faunus raise his weapon and aim it at the girl. “Look out!” Oscar warned, pushing Ruby out of the way as he dove towards the Faunus and struck him with Ozpin’s cane as hard as he could.

“You brat… agh!” Lionheart growled as he stumbled backwards, before losing his footing when he reached the elevator shaft that led down to the vault. Oscar tried to reach out to save him, but it was no use. He was forced instead to hear the man’s screams as he fell to his death.

Peering down the hole, the young boy hoped to see the man still alive. Despite how evil he was to have been working for Salem, Oscar hoped that he hadn’t caused the death of the man. However, the only face he saw when he looked down was a pale one with crimson eyes. He barely had time to dodge as Raven leapt out of the hole where the elevator had once been, in her hands, the relic.

‘That’s the relic!’ Ozpin spoke inside of Oscar’s head.

“How can I get it from her? She’s stronger than me.” Oscar thought, as Ozpin considered their options. 

Suddenly, a second figure with glowing eyes leapt out of the hole and sprinted towards Raven. The spring maiden barely had time to react to Cinder’s attack before she was thrown to the ground, the relic falling from her grasp and flying across the room. Cinder looked up at the relic but knew it would be no good going for it if Raven was going to take it back. It didn’t matter though; once she killed Raven, the relic would be hers to take.

“Cinder!” A voice called, form the one-eyed woman’s left. She barely glanced over at Emerald, the poor green-haired girl trapped under a roof beam that would surely crush her any second now. Despite this, Cinder continued her attack on Raven, the red-eyed woman parrying blow after blow as their swords clashed, until Cinder took her off guard, landing a devastating strike as she impaled Raven’s thigh.

“Agh!” The older woman grunted, falling to her knees and clutching the fresh wound on her leg. She might have been killed by the fall maiden, had her priority not bene the relic. She even ignored Emerald’s cries for help, running right by her follower to get to the relic first, only to see…

“No… NO!” Cinder roared, seeing nothing but rubble where the relic had landed. It must have been taken by someone, she deduced. Somebody who knew the power of the relic too, as anybody else would have likely thought it to be a simple lantern. “Where is it!? Where’s the relic!?” The woman screamed at the top of her lungs, falling to her knees and punching the ground.

“Uh oh…” Ruby muttered, as Cinder’s punch shook the entire building. The frustrated outburst of the maiden had been the final push that the school needed, before it was obliterated. The silver-eyed redhead watched as the very foundations of Haven academy gave way and began to crumble and fall down into the chasm below. 

“Run!” Mercury yelled. Ruby hadn’t even seen him until now, but faced with death, he was the first to take off, shortly followed by everybody else. 

“C-Cinder…” Emerald muttered, looking up at the woman she adored, hurt and betrayal in her eyes as the golden-eyed woman didn’t even glance towards her follower. Tears ran down Emeralds cheeks as she accepted that she would be buried along with the remains of Haven, that is until the roof beam crushing her was suddenly lifted, allowing her to scramble out from under it.

The red-eyed girl tried to stand, but her leg had almost been crushed too. She turned to see who could have been strong enough to have lifted the giant wooden beam, only to be grabbed by the man and flung over his shoulder.

“There’s nothing left for us here.” Hazel told the girl, as he made his escape with the young girl over his shoulder. Emerald was thankful that he had saved her, yet still heartbroken that Cinder had shown such blatant disregard for her life, as Hazel carried her off into the forest towards the south.

Meanwhile, everybody else had managed to escape the collapsing building. Ruby made sure that her uncle Qrow was okay, before the two ran from the burning building, escaping at the last minute and turning only to see the entire structure collapse and sink down into the chasm below, building the vault of the spring maiden in the rubble form Haven academy.

“Where’s Yang?” Qrow asked Ruby, concerned primarily with the safety of his other niece. 

“She’s alright. Jaune took her somewhere safe.” Ruby explained. Qrow nodded, as they began to make their way over to Oscar, who had currently been taken over by Ozpin, the boy having been overwhelmed by the chaos.

“Where’s the relic?” Ozpin asked.

“I don’t know…” Qrow responded, the flames continuing to burn around them. As they were talking, Ruby turned and heard a voice coming from the place where the main building of Haven had once stood.

“Please…!” The voice called. It took a moment for Ruby to register, but her body had already set off running so save whoever was trapped there. 

Looking down into the hole, Ruby’s silver-eyes were met with crimson ones, as Raven gazed back up at her. She was hanging on with one hand to avoid falling what looked like miles downwards to the vault. After her display with Cinder, Ruby had figured out that Raven was the real spring maiden and wondered why she didn’t use her powers to fly out on her own, but quickly realised that most of her remaining aura must be being used to cure her leg to avoid her bleeding.

“Pull me up!” raven demanded, snapping Ruby out of her trance. The young girl reached down to the woman.

“Take my hand!” Ruby shouted, as she and Raven grabbed one another’s forearms in a tight grip. With her other hand, Ruby held onto a wooden beam to her side to avoid being pulled down, as she used all of her strength to help the much larger woman up out of the hole.

Eventually Raven managed to get to a point where she could climb the rest of the way on her own, just as Qrow and Oscar approached the pair. However, as Qrow got closer, possibly as a result of his semblance, the wooden beam that Ruby had been holding onto gave way, taking Ruby off guard as she stumbled into the pit.

“RUBY!” Qrow cried as he leapt to grab a hold of his youngest niece’s hand. Their fingertips just about brushed, before Ruby fell out of reach. The last thing Qrow saw was the sheer terror in Ruby’s innocent silver eyed as she realised what was happening to her, before she was nothing but rose petals tumbling towards the bottom of the seemingly bottomless chasm.

Qrow fell to his knees beside the hole, as his thoughts briefly turned to following her down there – it had been his fault, his semblance that caused this – until Ozpin brought him back to reality. 

“She may have grabbed onto something, or cushioned her fall… but…” The man in the boy’s body suggested. A feeble attempt at reassuring the man, but they both knew that they could mourn Ruby later, and that they had to find the relic.

“Yeah…” Qrow responded, tears running down his cheeks in silence, his voice devoid of all emotion. He hadn’t even noticed Raven turning and running away, he was so distraught. “The relic… got it…” With that, the pair turned to see who they could save.

 

“Mom!? Dad!?” Blake yelled, as she searched through the crowds of people rushing by, as well as the bodies.

“This is bad, Blake…” Sun remarked, neither of them able to see Blake’s parents, although the cat girl’s attention had now been caught by something in the distance.

“And it’s about to get a hell of a lot worse…” The girl added, fear in her voice. 

Sun followed her gaze, and immediately wished he hadn’t seen what he saw. There, emerging from the forest, just as they had done at Beacon. Just as they always did. The black masses of evil with red-yellow piercing eyes. White spines jutting out from their backs. the thundering of their feet and their roars deafening.

Grimm.

“Blake… we need to leave!” Sun told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her away. 

Blake pulled back, not deterred by the monsters that were rapidly approaching, as she searched for her parents. Sun made to go after her, only for the building to his right to collapse, separating him form his feline friend. If he wanted to help her, he would have to find a way around the flaming debris.

It was looking for another route that Sun saw what was happening. The man from team JNPR – Ren, was it? – sitting propped against a stone wall, shooting his automatic pistols while his partner fired her grenade launcher. Upon looking where they were shooting, he saw Weiss engaging one on one with a huge Ursa, apparently trying to protect a large Faunus man while he helped some more Faunus escape.

“Ghira…” Sun muttered, a s he rushed towards Blake’s father.

“Sun… where’s Blake!?” Ghira demanded upon seeing the monkey Faunus.

“Looking for you!” Sun replied, as Weiss glanced back at him.

“Are they all gone? I can’t do this much longer…” She told them. Sun looked over, seeing the heiress with a look of sheer exhaustion on her face as she struggled to stand. Her wound form Cinder’s spear was bleeding, albeit not as severely as before, and she was fighting through the pain.

“This area is clear… we need to leave!” Ren told them, as Nora helped him to his feet.

“Not without Blake.” Sun demanded. 

Weiss, Ren and Nora didn’t have time to question who the man with Sun was, or why Sun and Blake were here, before Weiss’s Ursa revealed itself to be less dead than she had thought, as it lunged at her with its last breath, only to receive a hard punch to the jaw by Ghira, finishing it off.

“Wow… thank you…” Weiss remarked. Ghira chuckled, before falling to the ground unconscious. As he did, his large purple coat slipped from his shoulders, revealing some severe looking injuries that he had apparently been managing to ignore as he aided the civilians.

“Weiss take Ren!” Nora told the heiress, who nodded, pulling Ren’s arm over her shoulder as she helped him to escape, while the much stronger pair of Sun and Nora lifted Ghira onto their shoulders and managed to carry him with them.

“What about Blake?” Sun asked Weiss as the five of them made their escape.

“I don’t know why you and Blake were here, but she can take care of herself.” Weiss assured Sun, hoping that she was right. “I… I trust her.” Weiss admitted.

She seemed to have reassured Sun enough that he could focus on rescuing the people that were here rather than worrying about Blake. Weiss and Ren followed where most of the Faunus were going, following the northern road away from the Grimm, while Sun and Nora followed them with one of Ghira’s tree-trunk like arms over each of their shoulders. Their only defense was Ren being able to use one of his pistols, as well as Nora being able to use her grenade launcher, even if she had to stop moving to do so.

Nevertheless, they just about managed to get away. The Grimm seemed more attracted to the negative emotions inside of what was essentially now ruins, rather than the handful of survivors, as the small band of a few dozen headed north.

 

“Qrow, Oscar!” Yang sighed in relief, seeing that her uncle was okay. “Where’s Ruby?” She asked. Qrow ignored the question, walking past her and Jaune.

“We need to get going.” Qrow muttered in a completely monotone voice. Yang frowned.

“No, we need to wait for Ruby. Where is she?” Yang asked, confused as to why her uncle was avoiding the question.

“Yang…” Ozpin’s voice came from Oscar’s lips. It didn’t take long for the blonde’s eyes to turn red.

“No, don’t fucking do that!” She spat, as she turned on her heels to head back to the ruins of Haven, only for Ozpin to stop her. 

“I’m so sorry…” He told Yang, only to be pushed to the ground.

“No you’re not! No you’re fucking not or you would have waited for her! I’m going back to find her.” Yang yelled furiously. Qrow spoke up this time.

“Yang… she fell…” Qrow muttered, stopping the blonde in her tracks.

“No…” Yang whimpered under her breath, barely audible. Even from the distance away they were, she could tell the depth of the hole; there was no way Ruby would have survived that fall. “No… you’re wrong… she can’t be…” Yang told them shaking her head as she ran back to the ruins, only for Qrow and Jaune to hold her back, not wanting her to run in and get killed by Grimm, especially considering that she once again had only one arm.

“Yang…” Jaune told her, only to be headbutted by the blonde girl for his trouble.

“NO! I’ll find her! She’s alive! Yang wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she writhed to escape her uncle’s grasp. “She can’t be… she’s not… she’s can’t be….” The girl whimpered, screaming and sobbing all at once.

Yang’s screams abruptly came to an end when Ozpin raised his cane and brought it down on the back of her head, knocking her out cold. It seemed extreme, but Ozpin wasn't willing to risk the lives of anybody else. The girl slumped down, as Qrow lifted her up to carry her.

“We need to get somewhere safe.” Ozpin stated. Qrow and Jaune were both holding back tears for Ruby, as Ozpin took off.

“Wait…” Jaune told him, as the boy turned to see Jaune walk behind a tree, before returning with a blue and gold lantern. “Yang managed to grab it while Cinder and Raven were fighting.” Jaune explained, holding the lantern up. Ozpin and Qrow glanced at one another, before looking at the relic in awe.

“Oz, what do we do?” Qrow asked.

“We need to get to Atlas.” Ozpin explained. The other two men nodded, as they followed Ozpin’s lead along the western road.

 

“Mom! Dad! Anybody!” Blake called out, although she seemed only to be attracting Grimm now. She fended them off with gambol shroud easily enough. She figured that her father might have gotten out alive, but the last she heard, her mother was in the Mistral police airship that crashed into the second largest building in the academy after being damaged by the explosion from the tower.

Blake searched around in the wreckage of the airship for her mother, hoping she wouldn’t find a body when she found her. The cat girl wasn’t sure whether it was good news or bad news when she couldn’t find her but knew for sure that she couldn’t stay here long, or else be caught in the explosion of the airship’s engine.

As predicted, the engine did explode, thought thankfully Blake was a safe enough distance away. She prayed that her mother had made it out alive.

It was much quieter now, with most of the survivors of the initial explosion either having escaped or perished. There was nothing left, as Blake looked out form her position on the nearby hilltop at the absolute devastation that had befallen Haven academy over the past few hours. 

Just as the cat girl turned to leave, hoping that her mother might have met up with Sun, she received a hard blow to the face by an unforeseen attacker. The Faunus lay unconscious, as her attacker carried her body away from the wreckage of the fallen kingdom. 

 

Meanwhile, far beneath the carnage and chaos, a young silver-eyed girl’s broken body lay amongst the rubble of the academy. Her head was bleeding, blood trickling out of a long, thin cut across the back of her skull. Her right arm was twisted and broken, and her legs had crumpled under when she fell, essentially meaning that she couldn’t walk. Her body was decorated in cuts and bruises, and had she been conscious, she would surely have been screaming in immense pain. 

But her heart was still beating, she was still breathing, and by some miracle, Ruby was in fact alive…


	2. After the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors of Haven's fall struggle to recover. Salem has new orders for her followers, while Weiss tries to take care of the survivors that have made their way to Wind Path. Yang and Blake recovers, amongst friends and enemies. Hazel makes a choice, and Ruby wakes up.

Cinder and Mercury faced the floor, their heads down as they knelt in place, fear preventing them both from moving. They could feel her piercing red eyes on them as she considered disposing of the failures, but alas, they could be of some use yet. Finally, she spoke.

“I am disappointed in you both.” Salem said in an almost bored tone of voice. “I expected better from you, Cinder, especially after you assured me that these… children, could be useful.” The woman with grey-white skin snarled as she glared down at her devoted follower.

“I’m sorry…” Cinder muttered, gritting her teeth. It wasn’t her fault. It was Adam’s. It was Raven’s. Everything had been going according to plan until they had fucked everything up.

“Don’t be sorry, child.” Salem assured Cinder, lifting her head up with her hand by the chin to look down into her one golden eye. “Perhaps it was wrong of me to place so much responsibility in your hands. Perhaps I should find another woman with more motivation than you…” Salem threatened, prompting a reaction from Cinder.

“No! Please…” Cinder begged, as Salem glared down at her. “I’ll make it right! I’ll find the spring maiden an-” Cinder was suddenly interrupted by a backhanded slap by her master.

“Idiot girl!” Salem snapped. “The vault has already been opened. The relic is out in the open, and the spring maiden is no use to us now. Your own lust for power, as admirable as it may be, does not concern me in this matter. I need you to find the relic. Do you think that is something you can do without failing me again?” Salem asked Cinder, composing herself more, as the one-eyed woman nodded.

“Yes, mistress, I promise I won’t let you down!” Cinder promised, as she and Mercury were allowed to stand.

“If you do, it shall be the last time you do.” Salem threatened, as the pair nodded. The Grimm woman paused before speaking again. “What of Hazel and the girl you were with?” Salem asked. Cinder gulped, glancing at Mercury before responding.

“They survived, but we haven’t seen them.” Cinder explained.

“I’m sure they’re on their way here right now…” Mercury spoke up, as Salem snapped her gaze towards him, filling him with terror as he thought perhaps he’d spoken out of place, before she returned her gaze to Cinder. 

“A shame, but not our priority.” Salem responded. “Should you find them, do make sure that they regret betraying me.” She added, as Cinder nodded.

“Yes, mistress.” Cinder spoke, as she and Mercury turned to leave, only for Salem to speak again.

“Oh, and when you leave to retrieve the relic, do take Tyrian with you. The poor boy is getting restless, and he’s just dying to try out his new tail.” Salem told them with a smirk as Cinder hesitated before nodding.

Great, they were going to be stuck with Tyrian, of all people. There was no denying that the scorpion Faunus got results whenever Salem needed a particular individual killed, but he wasn’t exactly the type to work well with others. It wasn’t exactly like they had a choice though, since it was a direst order form Salem. Besides, with Emerald gone, they were a person down, so Tyrian could fill in her place.

 

The man groaned, his entire body aching in pain. The battle during the fall of Haven had been arduous, and he had received his fair share of injuries. Looking down at his body, Ghira saw that his coat and shirt were missing, and most of his upper body was bandaged up. Looking around the room, he appeared to be in somebody’s home, though it was most certainly not his own. He tried to sit up, when just then a girl walked into the bedroom from another room.

“I thought I heard you moving.” She spoke, as she stopped the man from sitting up. “Take it easy; you’re lucky to be alive.” She added. The short, slender girl had hair was as white as snow, and a thin scar over her eye. Thought Ghira could remember having seen this girl wearing a pale dress at Haven, she seemed to have changed into dark trousers, as well as a dirty white shirt under a dark jacket.

“…you’re Weiss Schnee…” Ghira observed. The girl looked surprised that he knew her, but then again, who didn’t? 

“Thank you for saving my life.” Weiss told the man, a little anxious now that he knew who she was. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I’m nothing like my father. If, if that’s what you were worried about…” She told him, looking a little ashamed of her family. Ghira simply shook his head.

“Blake spoke very highly of you, you have nothing to be worried about.” Ghira explained.

“Try telling that to the Faunus out there…” Weiss muttered. None of them had actually said anything to her, but they often gave her dirty looks or whispered about her.

“I’m so sorry, I haven’t introduced myself! I’m…” Ghira began.

“Blake’s father.” Weiss spoke first. “Sun explained everything while you were out. We’re all Blake’s friends from Beacon.” She added.

“I see…” Ghira nodded along. “Where actually are we?” The man asked, as Weiss helped him to sit up a little in the bed.

“Wind Path.” Weiss replied as she explained that they were in the smaller city just north of Haven. “This is where most of the survivors of the battle came after it was all over. It’s a good thing that the people were kind enough to house us in their own homes.” Weiss explained. Ghira tried to get out of bed, and Weiss helped him to his feet, grunting in an unladylike manner as she struggled to support the enormous man.

Ghira made his way out of the room, before exiting the house, Weiss supporting him all the way along. He looked out upon the small city, though it was more of a large town.

Unlike other towns, Wind Path was not built on a flat surface but rather into the side of cliffs on the east side of Anima, a strategic move by the original settlers to avoid Grimm attacks. They had managed to build small paths to navigate around the cliff face, and even begun to dig caverns into the side of the cliff for more space, with large stone columns supporting the cliff. Looking down, Ghira saw the ocean crashing hundreds of feet beneath them and looking out he saw nothing but waves until the horizon.

“Weiss! are you okay!?” A concerned voice called out, as Nora leapt over to them and took the white-haired girl in her arms.

“I’m fine, Nora!” Weiss confirmed, managing to push the concerned ginger girl off her. Behind Nora, Weiss saw Sun walking up to them, along with Ren, who was walking on crutches, having broken his ankle, though with his aura, it could be all better in a few days.

“How many did we lose?” Ghira asked. The dreaded question hung in the air, with nobody wanting to answer, until Sun did.

“We don’t know who survived, who might have been captured by the white fang, who escaped or who…” Sun cut himself off, as the five of them looked uncomfortable.

“I saw Yang and Jaune get away, but I don’t know about anybody else.” Weiss explained to them. “There’ve been almost a thousand survivors from the fall of Haven that have made their way to Wind Path; for all we know, some of them could be here.” She added.

“A thousand!?” Ghira exclaimed.

“The whole city of Mistral watched the tower fall.” Ren explained. “Once the Grimm finished off anybody left at the academy… by dawn, there was almost nothing left.” He told the man. “Survivors likely either made their way here or to Kuchinashi, since they’re the closest cities.”

“What about the Faunus that came with us?” Ghira turned back to ask Sun, who looked uneasy.

“About a quarter made their way here, but… more than half of them have already begun to go back to Menagerie.” The blonde man explained. “Blake was right, they just wanted a life of peace, and thanks to us, they’ve been made to watch their friends and families die on another continent. They never wanted to fight… they’re not happy.” Sun explained.

Ghira sighed, sitting down on a bench, as Weiss fetched his large purple coat from the house that they’d been allowed to stay in.

“…has there been any word of Blake or my wife?” The man asked quietly. Weiss shook her head.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” She reassured him. However, the man simply gazed off into the ocean. He seemed to have given up, barely having reacted to the news of the Faunus going home. The five of them remained silent, until Sun spoke.

“Sir… what do we do?” He asked, hoping to get an answer.

“I… need to rest.” He stated, heading back into the house. The four teenagers watched as he left to get back into bed.

With no clear or capable leadership, the group were lost. Weiss looked out as she saw a ship on the horizon, sailing back to Menagerie. She honestly couldn’t blame the Faunus for wanting to go home, especially after what they had just experienced. She just hoped that they didn’t blame Blake for their losses. After all, she had just been doing what was right. From what Weiss had gathered from Sun, that maniac, Adam Taurus had been the one to blow up the tower, resulting in the fall of the academy.

“Weiss… what now?” Nora asked. The heiress turned to see Nora, Ren and Sun all looking at her. It took her a moment, before she realsied that they were asking her what they should do, that they were looking to her for guidance. The girl swallowed.

“Well… we need to make sure we have supplies.” Weiss began. “Ren, why don’t you and Nora talk to the townsfolk and see what they can spare.” The white-haired girl told him. He nodded, as the ginger girl helped him to head off, before Weiss turned to Sun. “Could you talk to the Faunus that stayed? If they listened to Blake, they might listen to you. The last thing we need is a Grimm attack here too, so try to organize some sort of militia to defend the city in case and Grimm do come.” Weiss finished, as the monkey man nodded.

“What about you?” He asked Weiss. 

“I’m going to try to talk to whoever’s in charge of Wind Path.” She replied. “The Mayor, the Chieftain, whoever it is. I’m sure they’re worried about all the refugees that are constantly arriving, hopefully I can sort something out.” Weiss explained, as Sun turned to leave, before glancing over his shoulder at her.

“You’re not bad at the whole leadership thing, you know?” He told the girl with a half smirk, before taking off. Weiss smiled, before heading to the centre of the town to see who was in charge.

 

The blonde girl slowly came to, still dazed form Ozpin having clobbered her over the head with his cane. The last thing Yang remembered was… fire, Haven burning, she was looking for her friends and Ruby, when…

“Ruby!” Yang cried, her eyes snapping open as she awakened. Without even checking her surroundings, the blonde scrambled to her feet, only to be held down by a pair of hands.

“Rest.” Qrow ordered her, but Yang didn’t listen.

“I have to find Ruby!” She told him, as she pushed him off of her using her robotic arm… or tried to. It all came flooding back to her, as she looked down at the stump where her metal limb used to be. It looked like Qrow or Jaune had gotten rid of what was essentially scrap metal now, leaving her with just a stump again.

“Yang, you need to rest.” Her uncle ordered, his voice still as lifeless and dead as it had been the night before. After a few more seconds, she eventually did, taking the time to look around and notice that they were camping in a forest. Qrow knelt behind her, to her right, Jaune was standing up and putting out the fire, while to her left, Oscar was standing by a tree.

“H-How do you feel?” The young boy asked. Yang could tell it was Oscar and not Ozpin. A shame really. She would have loved to throttle that bastard.

“Fine… we need to go back for Ruby.” She told them, wasting no time, but Qrow stopped her.

“No, Ozpin said we need to take the relic too Atlas, so we’re heading to the docks on the east coast of Anima. We’ll get a ship to Atlas from there.” The girl’s uncle told her.

“No, No! I have to find Ruby NOW!” Yang demanded, shoving past him.

“Yang stop this!” Jaune urged her, but to no avail.

“Yang listen to me…” Qrow urged, as the girl slowed down enough to turn to her uncle. “Look, we NEED to get the relic to Atlas, okay? Ruby is either fine, or she’s not. Either way, the relic is our priority right now.” The red-eyed man told his niece. 

“We can’t leave her!” Yang protested. 

“I know… which is why I, and I alone, am going back there.” Qrow told her. Before Yang could protest again, he continued. “In your condition, you can’t go back alone, and we need as many people as possible defending the relic. Once I see you to the docks, I’ll head straight back to Haven and I won’t leave until I find her. I promise.” Qrow assured his niece. Yang looked like she was deciding between sticking to her guns, or admitting that her uncle was right, until she finally chose the latter.

“She’s fine… I know it.” Yang told him. “Bring her home.” She demanded, as the man nodded.

“I will.” He told her. Yang sighed, turning back to Oscar and Jaune.

“Sorry about last night…” She told them.

“It’s fine, I completely understand.” Jaune told her. Yang smiled, as Oscar approached Qrow. When Yang and Jaune were out of earshot, Oscar leaned up to whisper something to the man.

“Erm, Ozpin told me to tell you… ‘remember what you told him about Summer’.” Oscar told the grey-haired man, a confused look on his face. Qrow nodded.

“Let’s hope so, Oz…” Qrow muttered back, before turning to Yang and Jaune. “C’mon, let’s go!” He told them. The two blonds nodded, as they followed him a short while out of the forest and onto the road. 

If they made good time, they should make it to the docks by dawn the next day. After that, it was onto Atlas for the three kids, while Qrow would hopefully go back and find Ruby.

 

Emerald looked up at the much larger man walking beside her as the two of them made their way along the road. Her injuries had been minimal, so she didn’t need to be carried the whole way, and Hazel’s unusually large amount of aura had healed any injuries he had in a matter of hours.

As the pair walked in silence, the green-haired girl couldn’t comprehend what had happened the night before. It hadn’t been like the fall of Beacon, which had been organized, and Cinder knew what she was doing; she trusted Cinder then. But Haven… it had been pure and utter chaos. Nobody could keep track of who was alive and who had succumbed to the Grimm. The worst part though, was looking into Cinder’s flaming yellow eye as the woman walked away, abandoned her, left her for dead. Even Hazel – who Emerald had never spent any significant amount of time with – had at least stayed for a second to rescue her.

The girl shook her head, realizing that she had been falling behind as she caught up to the man who had saved her life.

“Where are we going?” Emerald asked, breaking the silence that had lasted between them almost since they left Haven.

“Kuchinashi.” Hazel replied with one word after a few seconds, never having been a big talker like most of Salem’s other followers. 

“Why?” Emerald asked him.

“Looked like most of the survivors went to Wind Path since it’s closer to Haven. Nobody will know me here.” He stated bluntly. Emerald was confused, trying to keep pace with the man while continuing to talk to him.

“What about Salem? Aren’t we going back? Shouldn’t we try to contact Cinder?” Emerald asked. The man scoffed.

“Forget about them. No way I’m taking a load of crap from Salem for trying to get out of there alive.” Hazel told the girl. E could see that she was confused, so he explained. “I never really devoted myself to Salem, not like Cinder or Tyrian did. I just wanted to get back at Ozpin for what he did to my sister. Salem knew that. As long as I did what she said, she promised that I could be the one to end Ozpin’s life, once and for all.” He explained.

“Then why leave her now?” Emerald inquired.

“She’s gonna be pissed that we lost the relic. Trust me, you don’t want to be there when Salem loses her shit.” Hazel explained. “It’s best I get out of this mess while I still can. As for Ozpin… well, you saw him. He’s just a kid now. I can take him on my own.” The man explained, as Emerald nodded in understanding.

“Then what will you do?” She asked. The man shrugged.

“Find work. Find Ozpin.” Hazel answered simply. “Should be able to make some money in Kuchinashi. There’s all kinds of scum in that place looking for someone to do their dirty work.” 

The two carried on walking after Hazel explained his plan. He stopped walking for a moment once they reached a fork in the road, before continuing. 

“If you’re going to find Cinder, keep on the right path.” He told Emerald, before taking off on the left. “See you round. Well, probably not…” He added, before turning and leaving Emerald in the road.

However, after walking for just a few seconds, the man soon felt a presence behind him. Stopping in his tracks, he turned to see Emerald following him, looking anxious.

“C-Can I come with you…?” Emerald asked. For the first time, the red-eyed girl actually saw Hazel chuckle quietly to himself.

“I thought Cinder was your whole thing.” He pointed out, frowning in confusion. He looked down and saw the hurt in Emerald’s eyes when he mentioned Cinder’s name again.

“I followed her… I did things for he that I didn’t agree with, because I owed it to her. Then, when I was trapped… she walked right past me.” Emerald explained. “What did I do wrong? Was she using me the whole time?” She asked Hazel trying not to look weak and cry, despite the betrayal she felt.

“Probably.” Hazel responded, turning to walk down the road. Emerald scowled.

“Y’know, you could try being a bit more sympathetic.” She told him.

“No.” The man told her in his usual apathetic tone. The girl huffed but continued to follow him down the dirt road. “You’re still here…?” He pointed out.

“Cinder never cared about me… why should I care about her?” Emerald asked. She was trying to be tough, to brush it off, but she knew inside that her feelings towards the woman that gave her life purpose were strong. Then again, that same woman had left her for dead in pursuit of her own selfish goals…

“Don’t take it personally.” Hazel reassured Emerald. “Salem, Cinder, Ozpin… people are just a means to and end for them. And once they’re done with you…” The man trailed off, before stopping in the road and turning back to Emerald. “You want to come with me?” He asked.

“Yes… if you’ll let me.” Emerald responded, hoping that she wouldn’t be rejected. Hazel seemed to think about it, before turning and walking.

“Do as I say, and don’t get in any trouble.” Hazel told the girl. Emerald smiled slightly as the followed him down the road.

“So… we’re kind of like partners then?” She asked him, giving a cheeky grin as she tried to lighten the mood.

“No.” Hazel told her bluntly, as the pair of them made their way to Kuchinashi.

 

“If I ask you to look for survivors, what do you think I want you to do?” 

“Look for survivors…”

“Correct. Now, what did you do?”

“…I knocked her out… but she could have been a threat!”

“Please, one girl? How weak are you? Actually, don’t answer that just yet. She’s waking up.”

Blake groaned as she slowly came to. Her head hurt like hell form where she had been hit and from where her head hit the ground following being knocked out by the mysterious figure. She remembered looking around the ruins of Haven for her mother, or any other survivors, but didn’t find anybody. It wasn’t until she had tried to leave that she was attacked. After that, her memory was blank.

“How do you feel?” A woman’s voice asked, though it wasn’t kind or caring. Rather, it was cold and harsh.

“What… where…?” Blake asked, her amber eyes opening as she realised that she was outside in what could be described a as small settlement. She looked around herself, seeing a man who seemed apologetic, apparently the one that had been being chastised by the woman for knocking her out. Beside him was the woman that spoke. Her skin was pale, in contrast with her jet-black hair, and her eyes were blood red.

“You’re at my camp.” The woman told her. It took a moment before Blake recognized the woman from a picture that Yang had once shown her. 

“You…! You’re Raven Branwen!” Blake exclaimed, as she sat up, noticing that she had been laid on a mattress on the ground outside.

“Well done. I take it you’ve met my daughter?” Raven asked, as Blake nodded. “Come on, I’ll take you to my tent and fill you in on what happened.”

Blake managed to stand on her own, making a mental note of the things around her, before following Raven to a huge tent in the centre of the camp. The woman seemed to be limping slightly, and Blake noticed bandages around her thigh, but didn’t say anything. She sat at a table and Raven sat opposite her. The two drank tea, as Raven filled in the cat Faunus as to what had happened from her perspective, before Blake explained to Raven how she and the Faunus of Menagerie had ended up at Haven.

“So, my team, my friends, they were all at Haven?” Blake asked, concern in her voice.

“Yes. Yang, her sister, my brother, the Schnee girl, and a few others.” Raven explained to the cat girl. Blake didn’t now whether to be proud that they had stood in defence of Haven, or worried for their safety, though she was leaning towards the latter.

“Did you see if they got out okay?” Blake asked. Raven shook her head.

“I’m pretty sure I saw yang running off with that blond boy, but other than that, no.” The red-eyed woman told the girl, who nodded. She intentionally left out details of seeing Ruby fall down the sinkhole that had emerged in the middle of the school, not wanting to piss off the potential ally before her.

“Why did you bring me here?” Blake asked, curious as to the bandit’s motivations. Raven laughed.

“That’s a funny way to speak to somebody that just saved your life!” The woman remarked.

“What you call ‘saving my life’ I call ‘getting knocked out and kidnapped’.” Blake shot back, seeing a smirk on the older woman’s face.

“Touché.” She replied. The bandit sighed, before speaking again. “I assume you’re familiar with the story of the four maidens?” Raven asked. Blake nodded, and form then on, the cat Faunus proceeded to learn all about the maidens, the relics and Salem, as well as everything else that Raven thought the girl might need to know. Once she was done, and answered any of Blake’s questions, Raven finished her tea.

“I think I understand…” Blake told Raven, trying to wrap her head around everything she had just been told about. “I still don’t understand why I’m here though.” Blake told the woman.

“Salem’s followers know where we are. We’re moving camp, and you’re coming with us.” Raven told the cat girl. Before she could ask why, Raven continued. “I want the relic. I have no doubt that there’s a war coming between Ozpin and Salem, and I need all the power I can get if my tribe and I are going to survive.” Raven told her.

“But how do I tie into this?” Blake asked. Raven smirked.

“Yang mentioned you when she stopped by, but I could tell that she cares a great deal about you. I assume you feel the same about her?” Raven asked, as Blake nodded, before she continued. “A member of my tribe saw the blond boy she was with carrying the relic away. I simply propose that you help me find the relic, and when we do, you will be reunited with Yang. It’s quite a remarkable coincidence when you think about it; we both have things we want, and they’re both in the same place. What do you say?” Raven asked Blake with a grin. The cat Faunus thought, before answering.

“You say that, but do you have any idea where that place is?” Blake asked the woman.

“They were spotted heading west. I can track them, but you know Yang better than anybody else here.” Raven explained. Blake thought about her family, about Sun, and about her other teammates and friends. She wanted to reunite with them too, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Yang. She supposed that she might as well join the bandit, since Yang was the only one she would be able to get help finding. Besides, she seriously doubted that Raven would just let her leave if she said no, especially after everything she had been told.

“Alright, fine.” Blake told Raven, extending her hand. Raven shook it.

“Excellent.” Raven remarked. “Hopefully we can leave before nightfall. Salem may still think I have the relic and send Cinder after me. You’re allowed to rest until we’re ready to move.” Raven told the cat Faunus. Blake nodded, thanking the woman, before being shown to a private mattress where she could rest up.

Blake by no means trusted the bandit, but she was still her best bet at finding Yang. If she wanted her dead, she surely would have killed her already. The cat girl turned over, unable to sleep, but just lying there and thinking about everything she had learned today.

 

“H…help…” Ruby whimpered. It was futile. There was nobody there to hear her. She was all alone. Looking up, the red-haired girl wondered how she had survived such a long fall in the first place. She wondered if her friends were alive, hoping for the best, yet fearing for the worst.

The girl tried to look around, as searing pain shot through her body. She cried out, in a constant state of agonizing pain that was made worse every time she tried to move.

She couldn’t feel her legs. Her arm was crushed beneath her own body. Her vision was tinted a dark shade of red as her own blood trickled from her open head wounds into her eyes and pooling around her. It hurt to move, hurt to cry out for help, it even hurt just to breathe. The silver-eyed girl sobbed, making her hurt more. She may have survived the fall, but she could tell deep down that she was going to de right here in this hole, alone and in pain.

Ruby had been so busy crying that she hadn’t noticed the figure in the shadows shuffling slowly towards her. Once the figure was close enough, Ruby directed her eyed towards them. She couldn’t make out any features, thought they were clearly human.

“So, you’re alive…” She could make out the figure saying, as she lay in her own blood in the rubble.

“P-Please…” Ruby whimpered, trying to reach out to the figure.

“…rest…” Ruby was able to make out one word when the figure spoke next. Rest; that sounded like a good idea.

The girl closed her silver eyes, exhausted and in pain, watching the figure come closer and closer until she slipped out of consciousness.


	3. Unexpected Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss puts her case before the council of Wind Path. Blake and Ruby both make unlikely allies. Ghira is forced to make a difficult choice.

“I’m sure I already know why you’re here, but please, do begin.” The woman told Weiss.

The heiress swallowed, a little anxious, but determined nonetheless. The woman sat before her was the Governor of Wind Path. She was tall and slender with dark skin, hazel eyes, and a fiery auburn hair that matched her personality. She wore the traditional robed of the Anima elite, though presented herself very much as a representative of the people of Wind Path, rather than their ruler.

The Governor sat at the head of a table, with twelve other people sat around her, each of them from a particular part of society, such as the chief of defence, the chief of trade with Mistral, and the treasurer. This was the devolved government of Wind Path.

“Governor, I would like to start by thanking you for the hospitality and kindness that you have shown to me and me friends, as well as the rest of the Faunus.” Weiss began. The woman smiled, as Weiss figured she was off to a good start. “However, as I’m sure you are aware, hundreds of refugees from Mistral and its surrounding borders have come here just since this morning. I understand that this council has been considering not allowing them to enter, but I urge you to please reconsider this choice!” Weiss continued. The woman sighed, before replying.

“As you have stated, hundreds have already arrived. That number will no doubt be in the thousands by the end of today and will likely only continue to rise.” The woman paused, before going on. “I am sorry for what happened to Mistral, and I have the utmost sympathy for its people, but there are the needs of the 20,000 people of Wind Path that I am obliged to put first.” 

“This city was built onto the sides of the eastern cliffs and mountains hundreds of years ago, a successful strategy to defend against Grimm. However, this means that we have less land to grow crops on, and with the recent drought, our farmers are barely growing enough as it is.” An old, kind looking man told Weiss, a plaque on his desk reading ‘Chief of agriculture’.

“We were fortunate enough that the Grimm didn’t attack once we heard the news. Bringing the people of Mistral here would almost certainly prompt such an attack.” The chief of defence concurred, a short Faunus man with elephant tusks who almost reminded Weiss of a younger Professor Port.

“Not to mention that we would have to find somewhere for all these people to live.” A young woman with pink hair, who didn’t look much older than Weiss spoke up. Her plaque told Weiss that she was the chief of housing and communities.

“I’m sorry.” The Governor told Weis, looking genuinely apologetic. “I wish I could help them, but I have to put my people first.” She explained, apparently ending the conversation before Weiss could continue.

All of a sudden, the double doors that Weiss had previously entered through opened, as Ren and Nora walked in, following a familiar young woman who looked remarkably like the Governor.

“Mother, there are more people at the gates, but the guards have shut them out! The people are refusing to give share their supplies with the people already here too.” The girl, barely older than Weiss, told the Governor.

“Just a minute, Arslan, I’m busy.” The Governor told the girl who was apparently her daughter, as Weiss realised where she had seen the girl before. Unlike her mother, Arslan’s hair was platinum blonde in contrast to her dark skin. She looked over at Weiss, immediately recognizing her.

“Hey…” Weiss smiled with a wave. Arslan nodded, as she turned back to her mother.

“Mother, you can’t lock them out! They’ll die!” Arslan demanded, not caring that the entre council was string at her; she’d be damned if she was going to leave civilians to fend for themselves against Grimm.

“What other choice do I have?” The Governor asked, opening the question to anybody with any ideas, desperate for a solution.

“Well I think you’ll find that these refugees can be quite handy.” A voice from the doorway explained as Sun strolled in. “The Faunus that stayed are willing to defend the borders in case of Grimm attacks, while the rest went back to Menagerie.” He added, as he and Weiss exchanged a smile.

“The people from Mistral could stay in the Northern project that we’ve been working on.” The pink-haired woman from earlier suggested to the Governor, before over looking at Weiss. “We have about two-hundred homes, that might fit up to ten people, though it’d be a squeeze, and they’re unfurnished, so I wouldn’t particularly like to be living there if there was a storm.” She continued.

“It’s better than nothing. Thank you.” Weiss told her. “I can talk with Ghira as well. Perhaps we can arrange for wheat and corn from Menagerie to be brought over here to feed the increased population.” The heiress suggested. She stood alongside Sun, Arslan, Ren and Nora, as the Governor considered this.

“I suppose that could work…” The woman began, only to be interrupted by a young Faunus woman with dark hair and ram horns sitting right beside her whose plaque read ‘Lieutenant Governor’.

“Have you lost you mind, Veronica!?” The ram woman interrupted. “It will be impossible for us to cope with these refugees! The houses are completely uninhabitable, not to mention that Menagerie are hardly going to give away their crops for free. And all this girl and her friends have to offer us are a few dozen civilians that would do NOTHING to stop a Grimm attack!”

“Calm yourself, Lavender.” Governor Atlan instructed, before standing and looking across at Weiss. “We will debate and vote on this urgent matter. You will have out response by this evening.

“Thank you so much!” Weiss exclaimed, relived that they would at least consider it, as she and her friends left.

“That really was something.” Arslan told Weiss, a faint smirk on her face.

“I couldn’t have done it without you all.” She responded, looking around at her friends before back at Arslan. “So, small world I guess?”

The two chuckled, as they headed to speak with Ghira about the proposal, while Sun headed off to organize the Faunus, and Ren and Nora went to see what they could do for the refugees that were already within the walls.

“So, what happened to your team after the Vytal festival?” Arslan asked Weiss. The heiress looked down, before responding.

“We got split up, but we all ended up at Haven and… got split up again…” Weiss explained, forcing a slight chuckle. “At least I knew that they were alive last time. This time… it was so much worse…” She added, before turning to Arslan. “What about your team?”

“They were fine…” She told Weiss. “Nadir went back to Vacuo to stay with his family, Reese and Bolin went back to Mistral. We kept in contact, but after last night, I have no idea what happened to them.” The woman explained, though she didn’t seem upset like Weiss, rather remaining strong, though Weiss could see the fear in her eyes that her friends might not have made it.

“I’m sure they’re fine. They are hunters, after all!” Weiss assured her. Arslan smiled.

“I appreciate your kindness.” She told her. “I’m sure that your friends are fine too. Maybe they’re all waiting outside the gates to be let in?” Arslan joked with a chuckle. Weiss laughed, glad that she was with someone who could at least keep in high spirits, despite all the horrible things that had happened lately.

“That would be nice.” Weiss responded. The two continued, mostly making small talk until they reached the home that Ghira was staying in.

 

Blake was awoken by the sound of movement nearby. She reached out and grabbed Gambol Shroud, pointing it at the entrance, only to see Raven stood there.

“I didn’t return your weapon to you so that you could shoot me.” Raven spoke with a smirk. Blake frowned as she lowered her weapon, realizing that she hadn’t had it, but that Raven had given it back to her, presumably as a sign of good faith.

“Sorry.” Blake muttered, rubbing her eyes as she got out of the bed.

“I just came to tell you that we’re moving out soon.” Raven told the cat Faunus, before promptly leaving. Blake took a few seconds to wake up properly, before getting up and leaving the tent.

She stepped out into the sun, feeling much better than she had before, as she followed Raven into the main tent. The woman’s limp seemed just as evident as it had been a few hours ago. Strange, Blake thought. Even with a major injury, an individual with an aura as strong as Raven’s ought to be healed by now, or at least almost fully better.

Blake brushed it off, as she walked into the tent, seeing Raven alone and sitting on a chair, on her desk was what looked like a map of Anima.

“Where do you think Yang will have gone?” Raven asked Blake, not bothering to turn and look at her, focusing on the map.

“I… have no idea.” Blake admitted. Raven glared at her in annoyance before looking back at the map. She beckoned Blake over, as the cat girl came closer and looked at the map. Raven pointed to two roads that split off from the one Yang had been seen leaving down, one of them heading north and the other, south.

“This road here leads to the north-eastern docks. They’re not used very often, since people tend to travel from one of the cities rather than a remote costal town, but they might try to get to Atlas from there.” Raven explained, before looking up at Blake for her input.

“Why would they go to Atlas though?” Blake asked.

“My thoughts exactly.” Raven responded. “More likely, they took the southern road. That one’s much safer, and they’d be able to get to Vale from the docks there.” The bandit explained, but Blake shook her head.

“No, Yang wouldn’t go home without Ruby.” Blake told the woman. Raven bit her tongue, recalling how she had seen Yang’s younger half-sister fall to her death down the pit that had formed where Haven once was, but didn’t mention anything to Blake. She wasn’t going to lose her best lead for finding the relic that easily.

“Well where will she have gone then?” Raven snapped, startling Blake.

“How should I know?” Blake snapped back, as the two raven-haired women glared at one another angrily, before Blake sighed. “Why don’t we just split up, half the tribe go north, and the other half go south?” She suggested, to which Raven scoffed.

“You think I trust any of them out there with the relic?” Raven exclaimed. Blake nodded, before walking away.

“Well, your guess is as good as mine!” She exclaimed in frustration. “Maybe they doubled back and went to Wind Path or Kuchinashi? Knowing Yang, her priority would be to find Ruby. She might have thought that she fled to one of those cities after the fall.” Blake suggested.

Raven considered this. She knew that Ruby was dead, but did Yang know? Presumably Yang would have already been gone by the time the tower collapsed and wouldn’t have seen her sister fall down into the hole. What Blake was proposing made the most sense, under the circumstances.

“Kuchinashi’s closest. We should head there first.” Raven told Blake, who nodded in agreement. “Oh, and, good work.” Raven told the cat girl with a blank face, before leaving the tent. That almost sounded like a compliment from Raven.

Blake looked out across the camp, watching as everybody packed their undoubtedly stolen goods into wagons for the road. From what Raven had told her, they’d be setting off in a few hours, just before nightfall most likely.

As she gazed up at the sky, Blake wondered where her teammates really were, or eve if they were still alive at this point.

 

“Ruby…”

The redhead slowly came to again, her silver eyes flickering open. She had just heard her name called, hadn’t she? 

She tried to sit up, only to realise that unlike before, she was laid out on her back. Her legs were together, and her arms were by her sides. It still hurt to move, or even breathe, albeit significantly less than it had before. She looked around, seeing that she was still in the cavern, although now lay on a flat surface, with a torch on the wall illuminating the area, as well as a thin strip of sunlight that managed to find its way this far down.

“Ruby…”

There it was again! That voice, so familiar, yet so threatening. The girl looked around to see who had called it, but nobody was there. She looked back, and almost screamed when she saw the figure standing just a few feet away from her, looking just as horrifying as the last time Ruby had see her.

“Hello, little girl.” Cinder snarled, glaring down at Ruby. The silver-eyed girl tried to move, but it hurt too much, putting her at the mercy of Cinder. She looked back at the woman. She was wearing a crimson dress, her hair no longer covering her eye, exposing the scarred flesh and empty socket. Her left arm had been replaced by a Grimm one that was slowly extending towards Ruby.

“C-Cinder…” Ruby whimpered, as the woman grinned malevolently.

“Finally…” Cinder smiled, before lunging at the helpless girl, plunging her sword through Ruby’s heart.

“ARG!” Ruby screamed, having anticipated the pain, but felt none. Looking around, Cinder had disappeared into thin air. Had it been a dream? A hallucination? Ruby wasn’t entirely sure what it was, or what it meant if it meant anything at all.

Suddenly, Ruby heard footsteps. She was quite sure that this was real but had no way of knowing who they belonged to. Thinking quickly, she closed her eyes and pretended she was still asleep, as she heard the person standing over her.

“You don’t have to pretend. I’m here to help you.” A female voice said. Opening her eyes and looking up, Ruby saw a familiar girl, the one that had been with Raven. Wasn’t she the spring maiden? Vernal?

As Vernal helped her to sit up, Ruby noticed that she had red bandages wrapped around her abdomen and seemed in pain.

“Why would you help me?” Ruby asked. Vernal chuckled.

“I can always leave you, but I don’t think either of us would get far without each other’s help.” Vernal told her. She proceeded to explain everything that had happened in the vault, how Raven was the real spring maiden and how Cinder had wounded her, stabbing her Grimm arm into her gut, before she was left for dead.

“How did you survive? And where did you get bandages from?” Ruby asked. Vernal looked down at her bandages and bit her lip.

“… sorry about your cloak…” She told Ruby. Sure enough, the silver-eyed girl’s crimson cloak was missing, instead wrapped around Vernal’s abdomen.

“It’s fine.” Ruby told her, still a little cautious of the woman. “You were with Raven and Cinder.” Ruby pointed out. Vernal paused, looking a little ashamed.

“Raven took me in, gave me a home, a purpose. She was the closest thing I ever had to family.” Vernal explained. “When Cinder came to us, threatened us to work with her, we didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. Raven always planned to stab Salem in the back and take the relic, thing just…” Vernal tailed off.

“I know what you mean.” Ruby told her. “Do you know who managed to get out okay? Yang? Weiss? Are they alright?” Ruby asked.

“I have no idea.” Vernal told her. “I was down here with you and missed everything up there. It must have been bad though, because… well, it’s best you see.” Vernal told Ruby, helping the girl to her feet. Ruby leaned on Vernal’s shoulder, but she could tell that it pained the brunette to lift her, her stomach wound aching.

“I think I can manage on my own.” Ruby told her, as she managed to walk on her own two feet. Vernal nodded, relieved that she didn’t have to carry the girl. It was only then that it hit both the girl.

“…how are you doing that?” Vernal asked.

“I…” Ruby was at a loss for words. Both of her legs had been broken before, but now, she was walking better than even Vernal was. To test herself further, Ruby lifted her arm, and sure enough, it was no longer broken.

“You must have some crazy amount of aura.” Vernal remarked. “Like more than anybody in the world.” 

Ruby nodded, but from her past experience, her aura had never worked this quickly and it wasn’t as if she could have just got more. The only thing that she could think might explain her miracle recovery was her silver eyes. There was still a lot that she didn’t know about them that Qrow hadn’t explained. It didn’t seem to make sense, but she had no better theories. She would have to find Qrow and Ozpin to confirm her theory, but for now, she just followed Vernal through the cave.

“Where are we going?” Ruby asked.

“I found an exit. It’s not too far.” Vernal told her. Sure enough, Ruby could see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. They carried on walking, until they reached the exit. The sky was dim as afternoon slowly began to turn into evening, almost a whole day having passed since Haven fell. They seemed to be in the side of one of the mountains that surrounded the city of Mistral, giving them a view of the entire city.

“Oh my God…” Ruby muttered, putting her hand over her mouth in shock. The city seemed totally abandoned, buildings still ablaze, the sky filled with thick billowing ash. Mistral was completely destroyed, and as the two girls looked down at the city, they saw nobody left there.

“Most of the survivors probably left after the fall.” Vernal explained, before pointing towards a distant area of the city. “But the ones who stayed seem to be held up there.” She added. Sure enough, there was a distant speck of light in the evening sky on the side of a mountain, presumably where there were survivors.

“So, were going there, right?” Ruby asked. Vernal nodded.

The two girls began to make their way through the mountains. It was only a few miles, but they didn’t have long before it would be nightfall, so they’d best hurry. Despite being injured, the girls moved quite quickly, desperate not to be killed by Grimm before they reached safety, as Ruby wondered if any of her friends might be there.

 

“So, what do you think?” Weiss asked, once she and Arslan were finished proposing their plan to Ghira. The man seemed a little unsure as he thought about it.

“It’s not perfect…” He began. “The Faunus back in Menagerie might not like it.” He added.

“But you can convince them, can’t you?” Arslan asked him.

“I can try.” He told them.

“Please do!” Weiss told him. “We need to make this work or else hundreds, no, thousands of people’s lives could be at risk!” The heiress added, pleading for the man’s cooperation. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I will try to convince them, but after what happened at Haven, I don’t know how much success I will have.” Ghira told the two girl’s, sighing as he sat back in the chair he was in. he had gotten fresh bandages since that morning, though was still virtually bedridden. While he could walk a little, he had been advised to rest up so that he could heal quicker, thus postponing any journey he might make to Menagerie.

“Thank so, sir.” Arslan said, bowing to him respectfully. Ghira nodded.

At that moment, Sun came rushing into the house, almost breaking the door down. He was panting as if he had been running and had a worried look on his face.

“Sun, what’s wrong?” Weiss asked worriedly. They all dreaded the worst-case scenario; Grimm.

“Come quick! They’re here!” Sun told them, before rushing off. 

Weiss and Arslan exchanged a confused glance, before helping Ghira to his feet the large man was a bit more capable on his own and was able to walk with a little assistance from Arslan, while Weiss wouldn’t be able to support his weight much. The three of them followed Sun to the gates of Wind Path, noticing on their way that all of the people from Mistral had been allowed into the city. 

The gates to the city were at the end of a long corridor between two mountains. The upside was that it was easily defendable against attacks and easy to control who came in and out of the city. The downside was that this was the ONLY way in or out of the city for anybody that didn’t feel like either climbing through the mountains or scaling the cliff face that was a thousand feet over Grimm-infested waters.

The three of them eventually caught up to Sun, where the monkey Faunus stood on the wall alongside Ren, Nora, the Governor, the captain of the border guard, and a dozen or so soldiers, all armed with rifles. 

“Blake! Come out wherever you are!” A chilling voice from the other side of the wall called out, sending shivers down Weiss’s and Ghira’s spine. 

They reached the top of the wall, looking down at the crowd that were at the gates, but they weren’t civilians. There were some fifty white fang soldiers, all armed and all wearing masks. 

“Ghira! I’m so glad you could make it to this, old man!” The leader of them sneered, the bull Faunus with flaming red hair and horns.

“Adam! What is the meaning of this!?” Ghira demanded.

“That’s Adam Taurus…!?” The Governor asked, turning to Weiss, who confirmed it. Adam, the man solely responsible for all of this chaos for not being able to control his temper was at the gates of Wind Path.

“I have something you might like to see…” He shouted back. He nodded towards his men, and they brought forward six figures with bags over their heads. The first five were revealed to be a mixture of human and Faunus hostages. The sixth, however…

“Kali!” Ghira exclaimed, as his wife was revealed. She seemed to be coping, albeit she had been beaten a little by the white fang, evident by the bruises around her left eye and arms, besides which she seemed well.

“Ghira…!” Kali called back, only to be knocked to her knees by Adam.

“I don’t care about this one though, I just want Blake!” Adam informed Ghira. “So send her out and you’ll get your wife back!”

“She’s not here.” Ghira admitted. Even if she were, Ghira didn’t know if he could give up his daughter for his wife.

“Stop playing games and give me Blake!” Adam demanded.

“What does he want Blake for anyway?” Weiss whispered to Sun.

“No idea. This guys on another level of crazy…” Sun whispered back.

“GHIRA! Don’t you DARE give them Blake!” Kali yelled, only to be slapped across the face by Adam.

“We’re serious. Blake isn’t here!” Sun spoke up. Adam glanced over at Sun, but his attention was soon caught by the girl standing beside him. The bull Faunus pointed up at the white-haired girl.

“Who the hell is that?” He asked, pointing at Weiss, as the heiress’s eyes went wide with fear. “Weiss Schnee…” He muttered to himself. With Kali, he could have bargained for Blake had she been there. With Weiss, however, not only would Blake likely surrender herself to save her teammate, but he would have the entire Schnee Dust Company at his mercy.

“Leave her out of this!” Ghira demanded. Adam grinned up at him. 

“I’ll tell you what, how about I propose a different offer.” Adam began. “I’ll free all of these hostages, including your wife here, for Weiss Schnee.”

Everybody on top of the wall fell silent, particularly Weiss. She looked over at Ghira and couldn’t believe that he actually seemed to be considering handing her over. Then again, it was his wife, so she supposed that she couldn’t really blame him for at least weighing up his options. Fortunately for the heiress, Arslan’s mother, the Governor stopped him before he responded.

“We should discuss this this the rest of the council.” She told him, as the man nodded I agreement.

“You have until dawn!” Adam told them. One by one, the residents of the city stepped down from the wall, heading back to the main part of the city.

On the one hand, there were six hostages lives at stake, including Blake’s mother, Ghira’s wife, Kali Belladonna. On the other hand, there was Weiss, the Schnee heiress who had helped so many humans and Faunus alike from Menagerie and Mistral after the fall of Haven, not to mention that the white fang would only become more powerful with her as a hostage, especially against Atlas.

As Arslan’s mother called an emergency council meeting just as the sun was setting, everybody knew that this was going to be far from an easy decision to make.


	4. Expect the worst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune suspects that Ozpin isn't telling him everything about Ruby. Hazel and Emerald lie low for a while. Weiss's fate is in the hands of the Wind Path council. Ruby suffers a loss on her quest to finding sanctuary.

It was getting dark. Ozpin had hoped they’d reach their destination, or at least a town before dusk, but they had no such luck. As a result, he, Yang, Qrow and Jaune had to sleep in the woods again. They decided that two of them should go on watch, while two sleep, and then they would alternate after a few hours, before setting off again at dawn.

Yang had offered to join Ozpin on the first watch, but he pointed out that it was better if she got some sleep since she was still recovering from her injuries at the fall of Haven, although she had been lucky enough to have sustained no major injuries. Qrow was tired too, as he had hadn’t slept since before the fall. That left Jaune, who joined Oscar on watch.

They were in a rather secluded area near the base of a mountain. Although it would be faster if they went though the mountains, it would also be more dangerous, and so it was best to stick to the road. Jaune looked over at Yang, who was lying on her beck, eyes closed, and her one arm draped over her stomach. He felt sorry for the girl; whatever pain he felt upon hearing about Ruby was no doubt insignificant compared to what her sister and uncle must be feeling.

Jaune’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard movement. He instinctively reached for his sword, only to realise that it was only Oscar walking up to him.

“Sorry. Hey Oscar…” Jaune muttered. The boy gave a slight smile.

“Hey.” He replied. “Are you okay?” He asked. Jaune nodded.

“Yeah. I’m just worried about Yang.” He told him. The dark-haired boy nodded as he sat beside the blond huntsman. 

“What about you?” He asked. “I know that Yang’s Ruby’s sister and Qrow is her uncle, but you must be pretty upset as well.” He pointed out. It was true. Ruby and Jaune had been good friends, but this was the first time since the fall that anybody had asked Jaune. He understood that her family were closer, and didn’t mind them getting more attention, but it was nice to see that Oscar cared about him.

“I’m fine. Ruby’s a fighter. I’m sure we’ll see her again.” He stated, forcing a smile. Oscar did the same, giving the man a sympathetic smile.

“Of course.” A voice replied. Jaune looked up, seeing that it was no longer Oscar, but Ozpin. The two seemed to change over when on night watch to give one another a chance to rest. Jaune looked over at Yang, making sure she was asleep before he spoke.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” He asked. “You and Qrow already both know. You were trying to make Yang feel better before so that she wouldn’t make us look for her body, but… Ruby’s dead…” Jaune sobbed, tears in his eyes as Ozpin looked down.

“In all likelihood, yes, she is.” He told him. “But as you pointed out, Miss Rose is a fighter. She’s strong, like her mother. If she is dead, then there’s no point in going back, and if she’d alive, then she will no doubt be somewhere safe.” Ozpin told Jaune, making him frown.

“But… that fall will have killed her, right?” He asked. “How could she possibly be alive?” 

Ozpin didn’t answer, but Jaune noticed him glance over towards Qrow, who was sat back against a tree sleeping, before looking back at him.

“…perhaps we ought to get some sleep.” Ozpin suggested. Before Jaune could protest or ask him anything else, the man woke up Yang and Qrow.

“is it our shift already…?” Yanga asked, rubbing her eyes. Ozpin nodded, as she and Qrow sat up, while Ozpin lay down, allowing Oscar’s body to rest.

Jaune sighed, as he figured Ozpin wouldn’t tell him anything else. He lay down and tried too get some sleep. With any luck, they might reach the docks tomorrow, and by tomorrow night they’d be well on their way to Atlas.

 

Emerald didn’t talk that much to her new ‘partner’ for the rest of their walk. It was a long walk to Kuchinashi. If she had gone with Cinder, no doubt she’d be back with her by now. But how Emerald felt at the moment, she couldn’t stand to think about the woman that had used and betrayed her.

Hazel seemed to know where he was going. Emerald figured he must have traveled these roads often on missions for Salem, or else he had a really good sense of direction. After a few hours, she was tired and wanted to rest, but Hazel was having none of it, insisting that they kept going until they reached the city, even after it was dark. He knew they were close.

Emerald didn’t complain after that, even when her feet began to get sore and she lagged slightly behind the man. If she didn’t know any better, she’d have said he didn’t want her with him, but Hazel wasn’t the kind of man to beat around the bush. He wouldn’t have allowed her to come with him just to leave her now.

Eventually, the pair arrived at a city in the valley between the mountains. The buildings were traditional, just like Mistral, with the wealthy on the top levels while the poor and criminal resided beneath them in the slums; the latter was their destination.

“Stay close.” Hazel warned Emerald as they entered the city. The man moved much more cautiously now, making sure that his companion didn’t stray too far. The thieves and beggars that lines the streets were the least of his concerns. From what he had seen of the criminal underground in Kuchinashi, there were people here who would no doubt be interested in a pretty girl like Emerald to turn a profit with their less than legal business. It was one of the reasons he had been hesitant to take her with him, but he figured that if anything did happen Emerald could take care of herself.

Nevertheless, he made sure to keep an eye on her, shooting a threatening glare at anybody who even looked at them funny, making anybody with ill intentions back down. Finding a room for the night ought to be easy enough. there were several hostels around this area, he just hoped that Emerald didn’t expect five stars.

It didn’t take long for Hazel to stumble across an establishment that seemed like they wouldn’t get robbed in the night. He led Emerald in as he approached the empty desk before ringing the bell. A few seconds later, a short fat balding man who reeked of booze and cigarettes waddled up to the desk form the other side.

“How much is a twin bed room?” Hazel asked.

“For how long?” The man asked.

“One night.” Hazel told him.

“For one night, four hundred lien.” He told him.

“What!?” Emerald exclaimed. At that rate, they were getting robbed anyway. The man grinned and shrugged. Hazel had forgotten how much of a scumbag everyone in the lower levels of Kuchinashi was. He could afford the room, but he’d rather not pay such a high amount.

“Do you have anything less extortionate?” Hazel deadpanned.

“You won’t find cheaper anywhere else!” The man protested, earning a threatening glare from Hazel. “Erm… well, we’re out of doubles, all we have left are singles. Two hundred and fifty.” He told Hazel. The man still wasn’t happy, but it was late, he was tired, and he doubted anywhere else would be much better.

Hazel didn’t say a word, just slapped down the money on the counter. The man took it and handed them their key, telling them the way. Hazel nodded as he and Emerald made their way to their room.

“This place is a shithole… and I used to live on the streets!” Emerald remarked. The Hostel seemed to be rotting from the inside out, and their room wasn’t much better.

“I’m sure you’ll survive one night.” Hazel told Emerald. The girl looked around the small room. There was a single bed that she didn’t even think would be big enough to fit Hazel, let alone them both, a dressing table and mirror, a bedside table, an armchair and little else that wasn’t wither missing, stolen or broken.

“So, what do we do?” Emerald asked, gesturing to the bed.

“You sleep there.” He told her as he inspected the room.

“What about you?” The girl asked. Hazel shrugged.

“I’ll sleep on the floor.” He told her. Emerald felt a little guilty, especially since the floor was wooden, and there looked to be hardly enough room down there for the oversized man.

“Maybe I should…” She offered, but Hazel was already getting down on the floor. He groaned in discomfort as he tried to get comfortable. “What about tomorrow?” She asked him.

“Tomorrow we find work.” He told her. “Shouldn’t be to difficult. There’s always someone looking to hire someone like us to work for them.” He explained.

“Doing what?” Emerald asked. The man shrugged.

“Whatever they pay for. Y’know, mercenary stuff.” He told her.

“We’re mercenaries now?” Emerald asked him. he shrugged again.

“We’re whatever we get paid for.” He told her. Emerald nodded, as she sat on the bed.

“Are we going to have to kill anyone?” She asked. Hazel looked up at her and chuckled.

“You took part in the fall of both Beacon and Haven, and you’re worried about killing people?” The man asked her. Emerald looked down guiltily. “It’s different when it’s in person, isn’t it? You feel responsible. You feel the weight of your decision. It’s a scary feeling, right?” He asked her. Emerald nodded. “Good. That means you’re not fucking nuts like Tyrian or Cinder.” He told her.

“Are we?” She asked.

“Probably at some point.” Hazel told her. Emerald didn’t know what to say. She didn’t like the idea of killing, but it would be hypocritical of her to complain about it. “Get some sleep.” Hazel ordered.

Emerald nodded, reaching over and turning off the light switch, before getting into the dingy bed. Thank the Gods this was only for one night, or else she wouldn’t be able to cope with this filthy hostel room. 

She eventually got to sleep, while Hazel lay on the floor, wide awake for most of the night. He was fine with it, having worked on no sleep before. His main concern was that Emerald could keep up with him. More dangerous jobs would pay better, but he didn’t particularly want to endanger his new ‘partner’. He’d have to train her to be as good as he is.

The man got up, unable to sleep. Despite the uncomfortable mattress, Emerald had been tired enough to already be asleep. The man quietly crept out of the room. He would take a walk, then he could come back the next morning and bring Emerald on the job.

 

Weiss waited anxiously as Ghira inquired as to the council’s verdict. Arslan, Sun, Ren and Nora all seemed equally anxious on their friend’s behalf. The council had already deemed it too risky to try to outsmart the white fang, knowing that they would be attacked if they tried to deceive Adam at all, now it was just a matter of if they were going to make the trade or not. 

“They can’t. They won’t!” Sun tried to convince Weiss.

“They might. I mean, Weiss is one person, and they had six hostages, one of whom was Ghira’s own wife, and the others no doubt have families here that want to see their loved ones again.” Ren pointed out, as Weiss gave him a worried look. “I mean, I’m sure they won’t! I’m just saying that we have to look at it from the perspective of the council.”

“Ren’s right.” Nora told Weiss. “Maybe we should prepare for the worst… prepare to fight! Because there’s no way we’re surrendering Weiss without one!” The ginger girl exclaimed.

“Thank you, Nora.” Weiss told her friends, smiling.

“You’ll be fine Weiss.” Arslan assured her. “The council wouldn’t vote to sacrifice one girl, especially one so important and who has already helped out the city so much.” The dark-skinned girl told her, reassuring the heiress so that she felt better.

“But if they don’t… what will happen to the hostages?” Weiss asked. “They’ll kill them. But they’ll probably only ransom me back to my father. Maybe it’s better that I go of my own accord…” The white-haired girl suggested.

“No! We can’t allow the white fang to have their way!” Arslan exclaimed. “They can’t be trusted to keep their word. They’ll probably kill the hostages anyway!” She added. Weiss was conflicted; she dreaded the thought of going with the white fang, especially with a sadist and psychopath like Adam Taurus, but if there was even the slightest chance that six other people would live if she did, shouldn’t she take the risk?

They had already been waiting and discussing the matter for hours and could likely have gone on for a few more hours until Ghira returned from the meeting.

“How did it go? What’s the verdict?” Sun asked, standing up, along with the others too.

“…May I speak with Weiss alone?” He asked them. They nodded solemnly, seeing form the look on his face that it wasn’t good news. They allowed Weiss to go with him into a more private room.

“They’re making the trade, aren’t they?” Weiss asked him. The man slowly nodded.

“I’m sorry Weiss.” He told her. “I tried to convince them to find another way, but they’re already under so much pressure, especially with the refugees from Mistral that you let in. If things turned ugly with the white fang, it could lead to Grimm attacks right outside the gates of the city, and if they got in, there’s no other way out to evacuate everyone in time.” He explained. “I wish there were another way, but the council decided that to refuse or try to deceive the white fang is too great of a risk.”

Weiss slowly nodded. She was by no means looking forward to being a hostage of the white fang, especially since she was a Schnee. She couldn’t imagine them exactly treating her with much respect or dignity. At least her actions would save the lives of at least six other individuals though, and if the council’s concerns weren’t entirely baseless, she was saving a lot more too.

“I understand…” She told him. “When are they making the trade?” 

“At dawn. I am sorry.” Ghira told her. Weiss nodded, as she left and rejoined her friends.

“Weiss…?” Nora asked, seeing that the heiress seemed to be a little shaken.

“I’m fine.” She told them. Despite not having been there or heard the conversation, they could all tell from Weiss and Ghira’s reactions that the council were going ahead with the trade.

“I can’t believe this!” Arslan exclaimed, standing up in anger. “They can’t do this, surely? We have to do something. We need to plan how we are going to outsmart the white fang…” The woman began, only for Weiss to stop her.

“Arslan, it’s too risky.” She told her. “I’ll be fine. We’re making the trade at the gate at dawn. I’ll make sure to speak with you before then.” She told them, as they all nodded. 

Weiss left, heading off to speak to the council about their decision, and was followed by Ghira as well, leaving Arslan, Sun, Ren and Nora alone together.

“I can’t believe it…” Sun muttered, shaking his head.

“Poor Weiss.” Nora commented, as Ren nodded in agreement.

“What’s wrong with you all? We can’t give up!” Arslan told them.

“But Weiss told us, it’s too risky. She’s right.” Ren stated, but the woman shook her head.

“It’s not too risky. There is a way that we can ensure the safety of all of the hostages and Weiss, but you three need to trust me.” The dark-skinned woman told them. The three exchanged looks, before Sun spoke first.

“I’m in; what’s the plan?” He asked. Eventually Ren and Nora agreed too. Arslan smirked.

“Alright, here’s what we need to do…” She explained, retrieving a map of Wind Path and its surrounding areas.

 

“Vernal, are you alright?” Ruby asked. The silver-eyed girl’s new companion seemed to be having trouble keeping up with her.

“I’m fine…” The girl responded, although it was evident from the way she clutched her stomach and grimaced that she was not. Ruby went back for her a few steps, putting the girl’s arm over her shoulder.

“Come on, we’re almost there…” Ruby told Vernal as she helped her along. 

Rather than go directly through the city, the girls had opted to go around, taking longer but avoiding the Grimm that now occupied the streets. It may have meant that they were still walking well into the night, but they were in no condition to confront Grimm.

“Vernal… you’re bleeding!” Ruby pointed out. She and Vernal looked down to see that Vernal’s injury was only getting worse. Vernal sighed, moving away from Ruby and leaning against the side of a tree.

“I should have told you… my injuries, I don’t think they can be healed.” Vernal winced in agonizing pain. The red-haired girl simply shook her head.

“No, you can’t!” Ruby told her, forcing Vernal to keep walking.

“It hurts…” Vernal cried as she kept going on.

“We’re almost there…” Ruby promised her. She could see the light illuminating from just over the hill. If she could get their attention, they might be able to have help sent out to bring them to the safe zone.

However, just as Ruby’s hopes were up, she heard an unmistakable growling noise coming from behind her. She whimpered and turned to see an Ursa eyeing up the two girls, preparing to pounce. Panicking without crescent Rose, Ruby did the only thing she really could do.

“HELP!” She screamed, hoping that one of the people in the safe zone would hear her. Unfortunately, this only served to aggravate the Grimm, as the monster roared and charged at her and Vernal. The girl cowered, unable to defend herself, only to watch in amazement as Vernal found the strength to lift her arm and fire her weapon at the Ursa. It wasn’t killed, but it turned and backed off.

“Come on, hurry!” Ruby told Vernal, watching cautiously as the Ursa circled back. Worse still, there seemed to be more arriving, their attention having been caught by the loud noises.

“Ruby… you can make it alone.” Vernal told the girl.

“No!” She told her. It was strange; just a day ago, the two had been enemies, yet they were looking out for one another now. Ruby supposed it was because Vernal was the only person in the world that she could be sure was alive right now.

As the Grimm charged again, this time at least three of them, Ruby tried to speed up with Vernal, only for the bandit girl to shake off of her. 

“Vernal, what are you…” She asked, watching in awe and horror as Vernal raised her weapons at the charging Grimm. She could barely stand but seemed to be holding them off for Ruby to get away.

“Good luck, Ruby…” Vernal told her. 

The silver-eyed girl wanted to help her short-time ally but knew that there was nothing she could do. If she pulled her away, they’d likely both die, and she was in no state to fight without Crescent Rose. Vernal knew that her death was imminent, with Cinder having injured her too much for her to be able to recover to any significant extent. It was better, perhaps even more merciful this way. She liked to think that after a life of crime, sacrificing herself to save another would help to atone for her actions. She wasn’t sure but supposed that it didn’t really matter. She would never have made it alone anyway, but Ruby still could.

“Thank you… I’m sorry…” Ruby whimpered, tears in her eyes as she ran towards the light over the hill. Behind her, she heard gunfire, followed by a series of horrifying screams wails, accompanied by the sound of the tearing of flesh and the sickening crunch of bones breaking.

Ruby wiped her eyes as she ran. Vernal had been so close.

As soon a she got over the hill, she spotted the small settlement where the survivors from Mistral were set up. There seemed to be guards on the wall who spotted Ruby as soon as she got close. They raised their weapons, but before Ruby could say anything, one of them shouted.

“Girl, get down!” She heard. 

Ruby ducked before hearing gunfire. When the sound of guns ceased, she turned to see the remnants of a creep that had been stalking her disintegrate, before she turned back to the guards on the wall.

“Thanks…” She told them. The leader nodded, although she couldn’t make out any details since all of them wore dark masks.

As the silver-eyed girl stood up, she watched the gate open, inviting her in. she stumbled forward, before collapsing onto her knees. She hadn’t realsied how tired she had been, running on determination alone, but she was too exhausted now. At least she was here though, she thought. A pair of hands grabbed the girl, picking her up and carrying her in through the gates to safety, before she slipped out of consciousness…


	5. A series of stupid ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emerald and Hazel get their first job. Blake travels with the Branwen tribe, but they run into trouble on the road. Yang and the others reach the docks, but have trouble getting a ride to Atlas, meanwhile Arslan has a plan to save Weiss from the white fang.

Emerald yawned, rubbing her eyes as she woke up. For a moment, she was confused, before remembering that she was in the hotel in Kuchinashi, having half expected to wake up back at the hideout with Cinder again, the entire ordeal having been all a dream.

Unfortunately, she had no such luck.

The girl got up out of bed, stretching as she looked around. Something was amiss, but she couldn’t quite place what it was, until she remembered Hazel. He had fallen asleep on the floor beside her, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

The red-eyed girl frowned, since the bathroom was empty, so he wasn’t in there, and there wasn’t a great deal of room in the small room for the large man to hide. Had he abandoned her now too? Had he intended to take her to Kuchinashi where she would be safe, before ditching her?

Unsure of what to do, Emerald put on her boots and headed out of the room, down the corridor and into the lobby. 

There, she saw her unofficial partner sitting at the bar opposite a shady looking man. The man had dark brown hair that was turning grey, wearing a long grey coat and a fedora. The two seemed to be talking in a hushed tone, so Emerald moved closer to see what they were talking about. The man looked up at her almost with a look of disgust.

“We’re busy, beat it!” He snarled at her.

“Excuse me?” Emerald asked.

“I said we’re not interested!” He snapped again, standing and glaring at her as the green-haired girl instinctively reached for her weapons and was about to respond, when Hazel turned to her.

“He thinks you’re a whore.” Hazel stated bluntly.

“What!?” Emerald asked, shocked and offended by the man.

“Well, it wouldn’t do any harm for you to put on some clothes…” Hazel added, as Emerald looked down at her outfit, questioning what was wrong with it.

Sure, she did show off a bit of skin, and she liked the way that her outfit emphasized her best features, but it was far from slutty, and was a long way from being mistaken for that of a whore. Even if it were, that was pretty rude of the man to assume that about her. Then again, Hazel had warned her about the people of Kuchinashi.

“Wait, you know her?” The man asked Hazel.

“Yes, she’s my… assistant.” He explained.

“I’m his partner.” Emerald stated. The man looked bewildered, before he burst out laughing.

“I see how it is.” He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. Emerald thought it was a little early to be drinking whiskey. “You got yourself a hot piece of ass there, Hazel.” The man told him, still chuckling to himself as Emerald gave Hazel a look, expecting him to defend her.

“As we were discussing…” Hazel continued, ignoring the man’s comments and Emerald’s understandably offended expression. “A job like this will cost thirty thousand lien, and we’re not interested in negotiating.” He stated bluntly. 

Emerald looked astonished. Thirty thousand? That ought to set them up for at least a few months. Just what sort of a job was this exactly that paid so highly? The man, however, simply smirked and shook his head.

“I could get a group of bandits to do this job for twenty.” The man pointed out.

“You could, but it’s thirty if you want guaranteed results.” Hazel argued. “You go to bandits, they’ll take your money and you’ll never hear from them again.” He added.

“And what’s to stop you or your little slut from doing the same?” The man asked, as Emerald scowled at him, clenching her fists and fighting the urge to knock his teeth out.

“Because when we look for work in the future, we don’t want potential clients to think we’re conning them.” The large man growled, getting impatient with the client. The smaller man could see him getting annoyed, and so nodded.

“Alright, we have a deal.” He told him. Emerald watched the man shake Hazel’s hand, before handing him a briefcase. “You’ll get the other half once the job is done.” He told him. Hazel nodded, as he left, followed by Emerald. She gave one last glance over her shoulder, seeing the man leering at her butt as she walked away, before he was eventually out of sight.

“What a dick.” Emerald muttered. Hazel actually nodded in agreement.

“I did warn you about the people in Kuchinashi.” He told her.

“So, what is this job? Why does it pay so much?” Emerald asked. Hazel seemed a little reluctant to say, before answering her.

“That man was an arms dealer, the biggest in the city in fact.” Hazel explained. “He’s been having some trouble with a gang that’s been stealing his business. Our job is to make sure that they’re not a problem anymore.” He explained to her, a s Emerald nodded.

“So, kill them?” She asked. Hazel nodded. “Doesn’t he have men of his own to do jobs for him?” She asked. Hazel nodded again.

“Yeah. Men that can be traced back to him and result in a city-wide gang war.” He pointed out. “Using mercenaries is a good way to cover ones tracks and keep things quiet. Most people in this place have a lot of enemies, so it’ll be impossible to tell who sent us.” He explained. Emerald simply nodded along, beginning to figure out how things in Kuchinashi worked.

“When do we go after them?” Emerald asked.

“Tonight.” Hazel told her. The girl nodded, unphased by this. Hazel looked at her, noticing her melancholy expression as they made their way out of the hotel to get some breakfast to eat. “You’re not still moping about Cinder ditching you, are you?” He asked annoyed.

“Sorry.” Emerald told him as she followed him outside. “It’s just… I thought she loved me. I’m so stupid.” She muttered, shaking her head and willing herself not to get upset and appear weak in front of her partner.

“Why would you think that?” Hazel asked, looking down at the girl and seeing her blushing and looking away. She didn’t need to say anything. 

Hazel nodded, deducing that Cinder must have been using Emerald for more than just her schemes. He recalled having seen Emerald leave Cinder’s room in the early hours once or twice but had thought nothing of it. It made sense, given that Emerald wasn’t particularly unattractive, that Cinder may have used her for her own pleasure and manipulated the poor girl’s feelings to make her believe that Cinder loved her, rendering her ignorant to the truth; that she was being used.

“You’re not stupid.” Hazel told Emerald, as she looked up at him. “But you would be if you take Cinder’s actions personally. I told you, she just uses people. She’s a cunt, sure, but there’s no use in moping about it.” He told the girl. 

Emerald nodded at the man’s advice, as they found a café that looked like they might not get food poisoning and headed inside for something to eat.

 

Blake wiped her forehead from the sweat. Since the crack of dawn, Raven had her tribe moving further north to escape the potential threat of attack from Salem or her forces. It had taken longer than expected to mobilize, and Raven had seemed almost paranoid about leaving as soon as possible, but they had finally hit the road a few hours ago.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Blake asked Raven, as they passed a sign indicating Kuchinashi, pointing in the opposite direction.

“Of course.” Raven assured her. “This route is longer, but it’s better for bandits to go unnoticed.” Raven explained.

“I thought we were in a hurry?” Blake asked.

“It’d take a hell of a lot longer time to get there if we ran into a hoard of Grimm.” Raven snapped, shutting up the cat Faunus. 

She wasn’t exactly sure how much more useful Blake could be at this point but had decided to keep her around just in case. Besides, once she found Yanga and the relic, Blake could be used as a bargaining chip. While Blake seemed aware of the fact that she was being used, she was smart enough not to run off into the Grimm-infested woods on her own.

“How much of a longer route is this exactly?” Blake asked.

“It’ll go a lot quicker if you shut up.” Raven muttered, earning a scowl from Blake.

The pair of black-haired women continued walking, until they heard shouting nearer to the back of the convoy.

“Oh, great. What’s the matter now…” Raven muttered, under her breath, donning her mask as she turned to see what was going on and why her tribe were making such a fuss.

All of a sudden, Raven and Blake were both taken off guard when a carriage carrying the tribe’s supply of dust erupted into flames, causing a magnificent explosion that left dozens of bandit’s dead. Raven shielded herself from it, her aura taking a brunt of the damage, as she looked through the smoke.

Through the chaos of her tribe hurrying about and clumsily preparing for a fight, Raven could just about make out three figures making their way towards them through the smoke, two she recognized and one she knew by reputation only.

The first was a woman in a red dress, her hair cut short and her left eye missing. Her left arm was not human, replaced by that of a Grimm, and her one remaining eye shone gold, evidence that she was the fall maiden.

The second one Raven recognized had been the firsts follower at the fall of Haven. A grey-haired, grey-eyed man with a cocky smirk and metal legs.

The final one that Raven didn’t know was a deranged looking man, his face twisted in a sadistic grin. His body was unnaturally think and riddled with scars, with him having dark hair in a long braid and piercing yellow eyes.

“Hello again Raven.” Cinder snarled, grinning when she spotted the spring maiden at the head of the convoy. “You know Mercury, and this is an… associate of mine.” Cinder continued, frowning as the unfamiliar man clapped his hands together upon impaling another bandit with his scorpion stinger.

“A please, my dear!” The man told Raven, bowing to her in an exaggerated manner and tossing the now dead bandit away. “My name is Tyrian.” He informed her.

Blake bit her lip. Assuming he was another follower of this ‘Salem’, he would presumably be of similar skill to Cinder. Blake recalled how Raven had barely managed to beat Cinder at Haven; with two of them, it would be near impossible, even with those maiden powers Raven mentioned.

“What are you doing you fools!? Kill them!” Raven barked orders at her tribe. The men and women looked afraid, unsure whether to be more afraid of Raven or Cinder, but when Cinder raised her arm and flames started to form in her palm, they decided they didn’t want to be burned alive, and ran out of the way.

Cinder’s flames erupted around another carriage – there went their rations – as she made her way towards Raven, a hate-filled look in her eyes.

“What do we do?” Blake asked the bandit leader.

“Kill her!” Raven repeated. A few of her followers turned to Cinder and attacked her. Cinder easily stopped them, but it gave Raven enough time to turn and run in the opposite direction.

“Wait, we’re not fighting?” Blake asked. Raven ignored the cat Faunus, who followed her as the pair escaped into the woods. They heard the scream of the rest of the tribe they left behind as they were either burned alive by Cinder or killed by Tyrian or Mercury.

“We can’t fight them.” Raven told Blake.

“Why not? We outnumber them, and you have those powers.” Blake pointed out.

“I can’t fight.” Raven emphasized. Blake frowned, as she followed Raven through the forest until they eventually reached a place where they might be safe. Raven lifted up her skirt to reveal the place on her thigh where Cinder had stabbed her.

Apparently, Raven’s injury was quite serious, with Cinder having cut quite deep and severed Raven’s femoral artery. To any other person, this would have meant death without appropriate medical attention, but Raven had just enough aura to keep herself from bleeding out. She could still walk and run, and it was slowly healing, but no doubt if her aura went too low or she tried to fight, she would risk reopening the wound or bleeding out. As a bandit tribe, the Branwen’s didn’t exactly have access to doctors, and so Raven had had to make do for the time being.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Blake asked.

“Looking weak in front of my tribe? You think I have a death wish?” Raven asked. “If they saw me as weak, they’d kill me and have someone replace me. As for my powers…” Raven muttered, as Blake nodded.

“So, what now? We go on the run?” She asked. Raven nodded, and the cat girl sighed. It wasn’t like it would be a first for her.

“We go to Kuchinashi, like we planned.” Raven stated. “If the relic isn’t there, we go to Wind Path.” She explained. Blake agreed, before looking back in the direction of the tribe.

“You think any of your men survived?” She asked.

“If it were another tribe that attacked us, maybe. Those are followers of Salem; they’ll have left no survivors.” Raven told Blake, getting back to her feet. “Come on. We need to keep moving.” She told the girl. Blake helped the bandit up, as they made their way through the woods, no longer on the path to avoid being found again, but in the direction of Kuchinashi.

 

“I think I see it.” Jaune told his group as they reached the docks. 

Oscar emerged from the woods, followed by Yanga and then Qrow. The four of them had been journeying almost endlessly, aside from stopping to sleep and eat, and after two days of walking, they had finally reached their destination.

“About time.” Yang muttered. “So, we’ll be able to get to Atlas from here?” She asked. Oscar nodded.

“Indeed, Miss Xiao Long.” Oscar told her in Ozpin’s voice, as she realsied it was the old man rather than the boy who was currently in control.

“You might want to let Oscar take over when we ask for a ride. We don’t want to freak them out.” Yang pointed out the man. He nodded, his eyes flashing before Oscar resumed control.

“I guess I won’t be seeing you kids for a while?” Qrow asked, as he looked over at his niece, preparing to head back to the ruins of Haven as they prepared to head to Atlas.

“Find her.” Yang told Qrow, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. “Even if she’s… just find her.” The blonde repeated. Qrow nodded.

“Stay safe.” He told them. “You have Ozpin to guide you. Trust him.” Qrow told them. Jaune nodded, but Yang couldn’t help but remember what her mother had told her.

The words ‘Ozpin can’t be trusted’ still echoed in the girl’s mind. She shook of the feeling and nodded, as her uncle disappeared ack into the forest.

“Alright gang let’s go.” She told Jaune and Oscar as they headed into the docks. 

There was a large open gate which they were allowed to walk through. There were several large ships already docked there, some of them with large metal shipping containers already loaded onto them. The place was largely deserted, but clearly still in operation, evident by the whirring machinery and a few people working off in the distance. One in particular seemed to be in charge, a middle-aged man with grey hair and a sunburnt complexion.

“Excuse me?” Yang asked as she and her companions approached the man. “Sorry about this, but do you know when we might be able to get a ship to Atlas?” She asked. The man gave her a blank stare, before he burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Jaunes asked, as the trio frowned in confusion.

“That’s hilarious, I needed that.” The man chuckled, before seeing the looks of confusion on the teenager’s faces. “What, are you being serious?” He asked them.

“Why is that so funny?” Yang asked impatiently. The man raised his eyebrows.

“I thought everybody would have heard now; Atlas closed their borders. Nobody in, nobody out. Cut off all trade and for the most part, communication with the other kingdoms. Not that there’s hardly anybody to communicate with nowadays anyway.” He explained to them.

“Wait, so you’re saying there’s no way at all to get to Atlas?” Yang asked.

“Afraid not.” He told her. The three sighed, thanking him as he went back about his work.

“What now?” Jaune asked, turning to Oscar.

“I don’t know. Ozpin’s trying to figure something out.” Oscar told him.

The three sat there, trying to figure out a way to get to Atlas. Jaune still clutched the relic tightly in his hands, while he sat with Yang and Oscar, trying to figure out a way to get to Atlas.

Yang frowned, before looking up, seeing a bullhead flying overhead, before it landed on a helipad at the docks. She noticed several more bullheads, and suddenly an idea formed.

“Oscar… ask Ozpin if he knows how to fly one of those.” She asked, nodding towards the aircraft’s.

“Okay… he does.” Oscar confirmed. “He also says it’s a stupid idea that you’re planning and will likely get us killed.” The boy added.

“Does he have a better one?” Yang asked. Oscar paused, then shook his head.

“What ARE you planning?” Jaunes asked Yang, frowning as she grinned at him.

“It’s simple; we’re going to steal one of those things and fly to Atlas.” She told him.

 

“Are you guys in position?” Arslan asked over the radio. Thank God the local coms were still operational.

“Yup, we’re right here!” Nora told her back. “Also, Ren says it’s a stupid idea that will probably get us all killed.” The ginger girl added. Arslan smirked.

“He’s probably right, you know?” Sun told Arslan.

“Well if we don’t, Weiss is going to end up in the hands of the white fang.” The girl told him.

“I’m just saying…” He muttered.

The four of them refused to let Weiss go without a fight. They had hatched a plan, that they would not only rescue the hostages from the white fang, but also prevent them from taking Weiss. While Ren and Nora were strategically positioned up not too high in the mountains to cover them, Arslan and Sun would rush in and grab Weiss during the confusion. It was risk, and they could get hurt, but they saw it as a risk worth taking.

They went silent when Ghira and Arslan’s mother approached the spot they had agreed to meet the white fang at. Weiss was with them, as well as a small militia of Wind Path soldiers.

“Are you ready?” Ghira asked Weiss. She bit her lip, shaking her head, and he sighed. “I’m sorry…” He told her again.

“It’s fine…” She told him, glaring at the Governor who had sentenced her to this fate.

“I’m sorry.” The woman told Weiss, earning a disapproving glare from her own daughter as Arslan and Sun joined them. From the group, they would rush out, with the cover of Ren and Nora, and save not only Weiss, but Kali and the other hostages too.

The plan was for the white fang to send the five other hostages over first, then Wiess and Kali would go at the same time. If anybody tried anything, both of them would undoubtedly be caught in the crossfire. Still, it was a risk Arslan was willing to take.

The group watched as Adam and the other white fang member appeared. They forced the six hostages to kneel before them, as the two groups glared across at one another.

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” Sun muttered to Arslan.

“I know… just don’t get killed.” She told him.

“Oh, thanks. You just ruined my strategy.” Sun remarked sarcastically as Arslan rolled her eyes.

“Just wait until Weiss and Kali meet in the middle, then we make our move.” She told him. He nodded, as the white fang sent over the first hostage. It was a young girl with grey hair and cobalt eyes who looked downright afraid.

There was about a hundred metres between the two groups, so it took a while for the first girl to make her way across, but eventually, she did reach safety. After being checked for explosives or weapons that the white fang might have used to double cross them, the girl was sent to safety, and the second hostage was sent over.

One by one, all of the hostages were sent over, until the only one left was Kali Belladonna. 

“You send the heiress over first.” Adam told them.

“We do it at the same time.” Ghira argued back. Adam sighed, before shoving Kali. She gave him and angry glare as he pushed her forward.

The cat woman began to walk towards her husband, disappointed that the council had agreed to sacrifice an innocent girl for her, but she knew that it would cause chaos if she refused to move, so she continued to walk.

“I’m sorry.” The Governor told Weiss. the white-haired girl ignored her, lifting her chi and proudly walking out across the field.

The tension in the air was immense, as Kali and Weiss drew closer to one another, about to meet in the middle, until they finally crossed.

“Now!” Arslan shouted down her radio. Ghira and the others gave a look of confusion, before gunfire erupted form the mountainside. Ren fired his machine pistols at the white fang, while Nora fired her grenade launcher, causing a smokescreen with the explosions they caused.

Of course, the white fang returned fire, causing both Kali and Weiss to get down to avoid being shot.

“Kill them all!” Adam roared at his soldiers as they fired on the citizens of Wind Path.

“Return fire!” The Governor told her own soldiers, as the two factions shot through the pinkish smoke that Nora had caused.

Meanwhile, while Sun covered her, Arslan ran out into the field unprotected and grabbed Weiss’s arm.

“Come on! We need to go!” She told her, helping her up, before helping Kali too. The three of them stayed low, as they made their way back to their allies. They were barely able to see in the smoke, but saw a man emerge in front of them, donning a white fang mask and holding a rifle. He grinned and aimed at them.

“You’re dead now.” He told them, and was about to shoot when out of nowhere, a black mass fell on top of him. Sun saw the whole thing, recognizing the mass as an Ursa as it tore the white fang member to pieces. 

“Grimm!” He shouted. “We’ve got Grimm!”

Panic set in amongst everybody as they all headed back to Wind Path.

“Sun!” Ren shouted, she and Nora joined them. They finally had everyone there that they had hoped to save. All of them managed to make it back to Wind Path, save for one or two soldiers that had been killed, before the gates were closed.

Outside, the white fang either scattered or were killed by Grimm. While Adam no doubt fought his way out, he was helpless without his forces, and would have to regroup, by which time the citizens of Wind Path would be ready for him.

“What the hell were you playing at!?” The Governor asked her daughter, a small crowd forming as she confronted Arslan.

“Me? What abut you!?” Arslan retorted. “Planning to sacrifice a teenage girl to save yourself?”

“I was putting the needs of OUR people before the needs of one!” The woman yelled back. “You cost two men their lives because of that trick!” 

“You were going to sacrifice Weiss to those monsters!” Arslan told her. “And if you’d have supported out plan and tried to find another way, they wouldn’t be dead!” She told her.

“How dare you go behind my back and then lecture me as if I did something wrong! I was trying to protect the thousands of people that live here!” Governor Atlan shouted. Eventually, the woman composed herself. “I’m sorry my child… truly, I am, but you brought this on yourself. Guards take her.” Arslan’s mother ordered.

The guards seized Arslan, as her mother refrained from crying. What her daughter had done was a crime and resulted in the deaths of citizens of Wind Path. She had no choice but to have her arrested, even if she was her own child, and should stand trial in due time.

Along with Arslan, Sun, Ren and Nora were all taken to jail. They were furious that their attempts to save their friend had gotten them arrested for their trouble, but Arslan encouraged them not to fight back, as they were all taken away.

Weiss was torn. On the one hand, what her friends had done was stupid and resulted in deaths of innocents, but they had only been trying to save her from a fate no doubt worse than death.

Either way, she had to at least try to help them – she owed them that much. For the time being, she helped escort Kali to a room where all the other hostages had been taken. 

There, she found all of them reuniting with their families. Kali and Ghira embraced, both crying and glad the other was alive. All the other hostages had families that made their way to Wind Path, aside from one girl. It was the first hostage, the girl about the same age as herself with grey hair and cobalt blue eyes who was sat all alone.

“You don’t have a family?” Weiss asked. The girl shook her head.

“I’m more of a lone wolf.” She joked, as Weiss sat beside her and chuckled. “Thanks, by the way. You were prepared to give yourself up to save us… that’s really good of you.” The girl told Weiss.

“Don’t mention it.” Weiss told her. “So, what’s your name?” She asked.

“Trifa.” The girl told Weiss with a smile, as the thought that infiltrating this damned city for Adam had been almost too easy.


End file.
